Lactips, a French company specializing in the production of natural polymers that are 100% biobased, water-soluble and biodegradable in various environments, and Walki, a leading Finnish packaging converting company, have entered into a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with the aim of creating fully biodegradable, plastics-free food packaging using natural polymers recyclable in the paper stream.

The EU has taken the lead in addressing the growing plastic waste problem with the Single-Use Plastics (SUP) directive, pushing customers in the food packaging industry to find ways to replace traditional fossil-based plastics with biodegradable alternatives. This directive targets single-use plastics that are typically used once and then discarded, such as yogurt cups and snack pouches.

In this context, the packaging industry is innovating and partnering to support the sector in this transition. Lactips and Walki share this commitment to innovation for sustainable, environmentally friendly growth. That’s why they have decided to join forces through a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to develop a paper-based food packaging material with a natural polymer coating.

“We are proud to collaborate with Walki to create innovative, fully recyclable solutions in paper stream for the food packaging industry,” said Bertrand Dupeyroux, VP Sales & Marketing at Lactips. “This partnership combines our expertise in formulation and development of natural polymers with Walki’s state-of-the-art production capabilities, marking an important step towards reducing plastic waste and advancing circularity in packaging solutions.”

“This partnership is a win-win. We appreciate the speed and innovation that Lactips as a startup comes with and are happy to provide our expertise and state-of-the-art production lines for piloting the solutions,” said Annika Sundell, Executive Vice President, Consumer Packaging and Innovation & Sustainability at Walki Group.

Since 2022, Lactips and Walki have been working together to develop a grade adapted to Walki’s transformation process in order to address the European and Asian flexible and solid packaging markets with a natural, recyclable-in-the-paper-stream and/or home-compostable solution.

As part of this new agreement, Lactips will provide Walki with new, unique formulations of natural polymer, while Walki will ensure meeting market requirements in terms of properties and processability of the final packaging products. At the end of this final phase, the new products could be brought to market as early as 2025-2026.

 “When you process milk, you end up with casein as a side stream. Lactips has developed this casein into a bio-based natural polymer that is 100% biodegradable,” notes Mats Käldström, Manager, Development & Innovation at Walki Group.